Kremlin says new gas pipeline to Germany will help stability

He claimed afterwards that there had been "tremendous progress" and that other members had agreed to increase their military spending after his "firm" warnings.

"In the case of Germany, a lot of European countries would be very uncomfortable with that level of spending", the diplomat added - a nod to the World War Two aggression that was to lead to NATO's creation.

But French president Emmanuel Macron denied any change in policy as a result of Mr Trump's involvement, saying the allies had simply reaffirmed their earlier commitment to increase defence spending to two per cent of gross domestic product by 2024.

The emergency session came amid reports that Trump had threatened to leave the pact if allies didn't immediately up their spending, but officials said no explicit threat was made.

"There is a communiqué that was published yesterday".

U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming a victory, saying he's gotten NATO's members to spend two per cent of their GDP on defence by 2024.

The President singled out Germany for particular criticism over low spending, accusing the nation of being a "captive" of Russian Federation because of a multibillion-dollar pipeline deal.

The issue dominated the president's public remarks after he arrived in Brussels on Tuesday, striking fear among European officials that the president would question the US' role in the alliance.

And while the president has said he ultimately wants to up commitments doubled to 4 percent, for now he said that countries have agreed to move at a "faster clip" to meet the 2 percent threshold. "What will happen with Crimea from this point on, I can't tell you". President Trump "didn't set a timetable, but he was very clear that other countries needed to step up and fulfill their obligations", Sanders told ABC News.

Trump, in his proclamation of the annual event, said the US stands "in solidarity with those who continue to suffer under governments that stifle basic freedoms and deny the opportunity to build a better life".

Another big beef Trump seems to have with his allies are are their ties to Russian Federation (yes, seriously). "They're going to up it at levels they've never thought of before". After meeting with May, a scheduled joint news conference was sure to be dominated by the fallout from the interview before he visits Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.

The summit's dramatic, chaotic conclusion - complete with the USA president suddenly making demands following a formal communique - bore a striking similarity to Trump's departure from last month's G7 meetings in Quebec.

Pressed by reporters about whether he threatened to pull out of NATO, Trump acknowledged, "It was a little tough for a little while".

The US president said he would be discussing Syria, the Middle East, Ukraine and nuclear proliferation. "More powerful than it was two days ago", he told a news conference Thursday before leaving Brussels en route to the United Kingdom.

President Donald Trump scrambled during the last day of talks at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Brussels, skipping meetings with at least two world leaders and prompting an emergency budget meeting before reaffirming his support for the global alliance at a news conference.

As well as Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Charles Michel, the prime minister of Belgium, were singled out by Trump for undershooting on their spending targets when US taxpayers, funding a defence budget worth about 3.6 percent of their national income, foot much of NATO's bills.